MANY congratulations to Hartwell Stud’s Mary McCann whose home-bred newcomer, Ah Whisht, won the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association five-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden at the Fermanagh hunt point-to-point at Castle Irvine, Necarne last Saturday.

The 2017 Getaway bay is trained by Ross O’Sullivan (husband of former underage international event rider/turned amateur jockey/turned mounted TV interviewer Katie Walsh) and, under Tom Harney, she scored by a length from Kayf Hope. That odds-on favourite had also finished second on her debut at Tattersalls Ireland late last month.

While it was surprising that the mare was registered with Weatherbys as Ah Whisht (the same name as given to one of the legendary P.P. Hogan’s great hunter chasers of yesteryear), she is out of the King’s Theatre mare Listening who is dam of four track winners. The most recent of these was the Nicky Henderson-trained Attacca who, on his jumping debut, landed a two-mile novices’ hurdle at Kempton earlier this month as the 10/11 favourite. This four-year-old Maher gelding had finished runner-up in a Warwick bumper in late March on his only previous start.

Listening is also dam of the 2013 Flemensfirth mare Shush who, in just three career outings, won a bumper and won and was placed over hurdles in the second half of 2018 when trained by Willie Mullins. Retired then through injury, she is now one of a small number of thoroughbred broodmares at Hartwell Stud. This is also the family of the Henderson-trained multiple Grade 1 winner Altior.

Like all the great sport horses born and/or produced by the McCanns, Ah Whisht was broken at home where she did a lot of loose jumping and was hacked around the roads. A big, loose, well-balanced, athletic mare, she now heads to the Tattersalls December Sale at Cheltenham.

“Be they thoroughbreds or sport horses, we usually sell the colts as foals and try to hold on to the fillies. However, they do mount up which is why we are selling this one,” said Mary who, for the moment anyway, is holding on to three very well-related home-bred three-year-old Irish Sport Horse fillies by Valent.

As she was trying – unsuccessfully as it turned out – to sell a pony at home, Mary didn’t travel to Castle Irvine, Necarne on Saturday but was represented by her daughter Gina and a very excited Tara O’Sullivan.